A | B |
simile | A comparison between two distinctly different things, using the word "like" or "as" |
personification | A figure of speech where animals, ideas or objects are given human characteristics |
fiction | A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact |
symbol | A person, place, thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and stands for something beyond itself as well; it can signify something else |
irony | A term that suggests some sort of discrepancy between appearance and reality; says one thing and means another |
biography | An account of a person’s life written or told by another person |
metaphor | An imaginative comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing |
hyperbole | An overstatement or exaggeration |
dialogue | Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative |
science fiction | Fiction that deals with the influence of real or imagined science on society or individuals; many of the events recounted are within the realm of future possibility |
fantasy | Imaginative fiction featuring esp. strange settings and grotesque characters; things happen that can not happen in real life |
flashback | Interruption in the present action of the plot to show events that happened at an earlier time |
point of view | The angle or perspective from which a story is told |
autobiography | The angle or perspective from which a story is told |
antagonist | The character that contends with or opposes another character |
plot | The events or main story in a literary work |
theme | The general idea or insight about life that a work of literature reveals |
foreshadowing | The introduction of clues early in a story to suggest or anticipate significant events that will develop later |
resolution | The last part of the story when the characters’ problems are solved and the story ends |
characters | The people or animals in a work of fiction or drama |
narrator | The person who tells the story |
climax | The point of highest dramatic tension or a major turning point in the action; the most emotional or suspenseful moment in story |
protagonist | The main character in a literary work |
alliteration | The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words |
conflict | The struggle between persons or forces in a work of drama or fiction |
setting | The time and place in which the events of a work of literature take place |
dialect | The way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain geographical area or a certain group of people |
nonfiction | Writing that deals with real people, things, events, or places |